New Picture

The More the Merrier (Columbia) is a smart, civilized comedy about wartime Washington's nationally famous housing shortage. It does credit to Director George Stevens (now an Army major) as his last civilian job. It is also a credit to its principals--Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, and especially stoop-shouldered veteran Charles Coburn.

As a retired industrialist, Coburn pokes his way into the national capital, where he imperially rents half of a three-room apartment from its attractive occupant. Jean Arthur. He obviously considers himself old enough to be her mother, and thus overrides her misgivings. Behind her back, he then proceeds to sub-sublet half of his half to a clean young stranger, Joel McCrea. When Jean's stuffy Government boss takes her out to dinner, Coburn & McCrea sardine themselves into a dismal nightclub only to find that it is the scene of their landlady's tedious date. Coburn draws off the Government bore while McCrea gets to work with the romance.

That is all there is to it--plotwise. But the characters are continuously funny with each other and with their properties --including a slingshot which consists of a pair of Charles Coburn's pants and their attached elastic suspenders.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.